This is in response to Carpe Diem’s Renga Challenge #1 The challenge is to create a renga (or chain of verses) by linking together 6 haikus by Bashō with two lines of 7 syllables each.
inside the temple
visitors cannot know
cherries are blooming
in many hues of prayers
autumn quietly forgotten
the old woman
a cherry tree blooming in old age
is something to remember
new cloud is ancient sea
smelling like yesterday’s rain
what a sprout
a dewdrop seeps down the nodes
of generations of bamboo
a ryuteki’s haunting tune
passed on from master to son
the voice of reeds
sounds like the autumn wind
from another mouth
dragon fly hovers on pond
unsure of what is real
in summer rain
would you be happy with
the moon’s face
broken, whole, broken again
drip, silence, then drip again
separated by clouds
the wild goose lives apart for a while
from his friend
swarm of bees in the garden
making honey on their own